On Monday, according to court documents in Trading LTD’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, it was suggested that the Bahamian government had requested FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to generate millions of dollars worth of digital tokens. The legal representatives detailed that it was a “live and dynamic access request that would be provided immediately to the government of the Bahamas And to Messrs.
Bahamas Accused FTX Co-founder of Giving VIP Treatment to Government Sam Bankman-Fried
Following the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in the Bahamas, the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) charged SBF with fraud in the wake of the FTX collapse. Additionally, reports have indicated that several people believe the Southern District of New York (SDNY) attorney’s office and SDNY attorney Damian Williams have also charged SBF with crimes.
“The Manhattan US Attorney’s Office unsealed an eight-count indictment on Tuesday accusing disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of a multi-year scheme to embezzle money from the now-defunct crypto exchange,” Rachel Scharf, a court reporter, noted on Tuesday. Furthermore, documents acquired from the FTX Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases reveal that the joint provisional administrators of FTX Digital Markets filed a motion to dismiss the FTX Property Holdings LTD. Chapter 11 cases.
The lawyers also charged the Bahamian government with asking SBF for millions of dollars in new digital tokens. According to some reports, the tokens were given to Bahamian officials who were not FTX employees. FTX’s CEO, John J. Ray III, and his colleagues noticed that tokens were being reissued and suspect that they were executives who worked under orders from FTX officials in the Bahamas. This news follows the peculiar relationship that FTX officials have had with exchange heads Ryan Salame who partnered with vertical farming companies.
Ryan Salame and the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, went on a tour of 80 Acres Farms in downtown Toronto in January 2022. During their interview with Mario Nawfal’s Twitter Spaces, SBF, one of the FTX co-founders, revealed that recalls were given to Bahamian citizens prior to the complete collapse of FTX, possibly on two separate occasions. SBF described the authorization for the Bahamian recalls in a two-part interview with Tiffany Fong (here and here). FTX’s US lawyer revealed this week that SBF had negotiated with the Bahamian government and the SBF allowed $100 million per day in withdrawals.
Speaking about the generation of new crypto tokens, the Bahamian government and the lawyers argued that SBF is not a valid claim. Gary Wang, one of the FTX co-founders, worked closely with officials until November 11, 2022. “It is a request for dynamic access and live stream that would be provided immediately to the Bahamian government and to Messrs. Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, who are located in the Bahamas and work closely with Bahamian officials,” FTX lawyers said in the court file.
In response to the allegations, the Bahamas Securities Commission released a statement denying FTX CEO John Ray’s claims made public in court documents. The Bahamian regulator explained that the allegations were made to “create a false impression of communication between Mr. Bankman-Fried and the Commission.”
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